Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Muesli Bars

It certainly looks like Murdoch Books is trying to give the ever-faithful Australian Women's Weekly cookbooks a run for their money. Along with the Marie Claire Cookbooks their chunky offerings certainly got my attention along with the It series, then came the Cooking and Little Taste of... series and if that wasn't enough they are now producing another range under the Kitchen Classics tag.

I decided to make something healthy so rather than make cookies I opted to try the recipe for Muesli Slice.

I suppose they are healthy in that there isn't anything unnatural in them and they have good things like dried fruit, nuts and rolled oats so I suppose you can forgive the 250 grams of butter and 230 grams of sugar that are also needed.

You will be rewarded with a chewy and crunchy muesli bar that all the family will enjoy.

Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F.Line a shallow 20x30 cm (8x12 inches) tin with baking paper that overhangs the sides. This will help lift the mixture from the tin once it's cooked.

Place the butter, sugar and honey into a small saucepan and over a low heat, let this cook for 5 minutes or until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Stir the mix often.

In a large bowl add the remaining ingredients - give them a good stir to make sure they are evenly distributed. Make a well in the centre and add the butter mixture - keep stirring until all the ingredients have been coated and the mixture is sticky.

Press this into the tin - flatten it with a back of a spoon to level the surface. Make sure that it is well compressed.

Place in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown. Let it cool completely in the tin - don't try removing it as it is too fragile.

Once cool lift out and sit on a wire rack. The recipe recommends placing it in the fridge for 2 hours but I made this the night before and left it out and it was fine the next morning to slice.

You can slice it anyway you like - slice it in long bars

or bite sized pieces

If you are putting them into lunch boxes then wrap them in baking paper as they can be a little sticky. Otherwise, store them in an airtight container, layered with baking paper.

8 comments

Wow something is giving Australian Women's Weekly a run for their money. I am shocked. Those are my standard ethnic cookbooks. Well also they are great for other things, but I mostly have the ethnic series.